The present invention relates to apparatus for producing cast products and in particular to apparatus for producing cast products, wherein non-solid materials such as water; food stuffs including chocolate paste, fish cake, and fish paste; stationaries such as rubber for erasers; and ordinary utensils such as soap are filled in an elastic mould of open-bag shape, and then solidified to yield products.
A variety of materials including food stuffs have been produced by means of molding. Conventional moulds have been constructed of a plurality of split moulds made of a rigid body. According to these conventional methods for use of split moulds, the materials are first filled into the split moulds to allow to solidify inside the moulds, and then withdrawn by separating the split moulds.
These split moulds, however, tend to leave the joint of the mould on the surface of the product thus formed, resulting in lower product values. A large number of moulds have been required as well as complicated production steps, especially when products of complicated shapes are desired to be formed. Furthermore, since the split mould is made of a rigid body, the manufacture of the split mould itself is so expensive that the product cost tends to be high. Especially when a variety of product types but small production rates are necessary, the cost of the split mould occupies a greater part of the total cost of the product, and this virtually prohibits the actual production of the desired items.
In addition, the split mould made of a rigid body often breaks under a high pressure or a vacuum which may be applied to the mould in the solidification step of a material whose volume changes with temperatures.